Thursday, March 29, 2012

Knowledge of Issued Patent Not Required to Plead Willful Infringement

The court denied defendants' motion to dismiss plaintiff's willful infringement claim for failure to state a claim. "The Moving Defendants next contend that [plaintiff's] allegations of willfulness must fail because they do not allege knowledge of an issued patent. . . . While it is unlikely that [plaintiff] could proceed to trial on a claim for willful infringement based solely on pre-issuance knowledge, [plaintiff] has adequately pled a claim for willful infringement. In other words, [plaintiff] has successfully pled enough facts regarding willful infringement to raise the right to relief above the speculative level."

TracBeam, LLC v. AT&T Inc., et. al., 6-11-cv-00096 (TXED March 27, 2012, Order) (Davis, J.)

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